Alma Mediapartners Oy revises the business strategy of Etuovi.com and plans to reorganise and rationalise its operations

Alma Media Corporation   Stock Exchange Release   March 7, 2012 at 12:00 noon (EET)

ALMA MEDIAPARTNERS OY REVISES THE BUSINESS STRATEGY OF ETUOVI.COM AND PLANS TO REORGANISE AND RATIONALISE ITS OPERATIONS

Etuovi.com, the online real estate portal belonging to Alma Media Group, will revise its business strategy during the coming months. Simultaneously, Alma Mediapartners Oy, a subsidiary of Alma Media, plans to reorganise and rationalise its operations.

The first tangible actions of the renewing strategy are the services launched yesterday, namely the free Listing service for real estate agents and life span pricing for private consumers. The changes reflect the recent development in the competitive environment of the real estate advertising market.

To implement the renewing strategy, Alma Mediapartners Oy plans to rationalise and reorganise its operations. The objective of the plan is to improve the competitiveness and operational preconditions of Etuovi.com and the other services of Alma Mediapartners, and to secure the financial position of Alma Media’s Marketplaces business area.

Due to the planned measures, Alma Mediapartners begins statutory cooperation negotiations with its employees. The negotiations encompass the entire personnel of the company, in total 99 persons. The negotiations concern the plans to rationalise and reorganise operations, the consequences these actions may have on personnel as well as the grounds, impacts and alternatives for the actions. The company has anticipated that the number of its employees may decrease by 35 person-years maximum as a result of the negotiations.

Alma Mediapartners is owned by Alma Media Corporation (65%) and Arena Partners, the development company of newspapers in Middle Finland (35%).The service brands of Alma Mediapartners are Etuovi.com, Vuokraovi.com, Autotalli.com and MyyJaOsta.com. 

ALMA MEDIA CORPORATION
Rauno Heinonen, Vice President, Communications and IR

For further information, please contact:

Riikka Wulff, Managing Director, Alma Mediapartners Oy, tel. +358 40 777 8299

Distribution:  NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Stock Exchange, principal media

Alma Media in brief

Alma Media is a dynamic media company whose best-known products are Aamulehti, Iltalehti, Kauppalehti and Etuovi.com. Alma Media employs approximately 3,000 professionals. The company’s net sales in 2011 totalled MEUR 316.2 with an operating margin of 13.3 per cent. Alma Media’s share (ALN1V) is listed in the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Exchange. Read more at www.almamedia.fi

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